Session 12
Game date June 4, 2011 Game notes 8 XP for last session Brendan is now Maxwell Adams. Game log September 30th * Maxwell Adams, Brendan's new PC, is the photojournalist that's been with us for a while, so we're going to play through a few scenes to establish him. He comes off as everyone's younger brother. He used to be one of the paparazzi and wants to get into legit journalism and follow a bit in his archaeologist father's footsteps. * Brad reads us something from the journal of Percy, an Antarctic explorer who went with Fawcett. It's mostly about how much being in the jungle thanks due to extreme labor, heat, illness, hunger, and bugs. * The night that the Kamayurá arrive, the remaining four of us sleep better than any of us can remember since we left. ** You are searching for something or someone. We are searching for a gathering. As we open doors in the jungle, we see dozens of earthly and unearthly landscapes. The last door opens to three stone archways and a path leading to our final destination. * Waking in the morning, everyone is refreshed and optimistic. Even the news of Owen's mysterious disappearance does little to dampen the camp's spirits. * Clayton asks about what happened to Owen and whether we should search for him. Moore says that he has no idea of what happened to him during their shared shift. Both had patrolled around camp separately and taken a bathroom break when he vanished with no sound or disturbance. * We start a search for Lynch. Luo finds his tracks with Moore and Russel helping. He seems to have gone in a straight line with little effort at disguising his tracks for several yards into the jungle, and the trail fades at a stream bank ENE of the camp. We find Owen's monkey (which he apparently picked up some time last session) eviscerated somewhere along the trail. Luo notices that it looks like it's been sacrificed in some way. ** However, we fail to find his river crossing. The far bank is mostly undisturbed except for the tracks of a large cat. The best we can guess is that he went off hunting. ** As we return, the Kamayurá have been milling about camp, having been "unable" to pick up any tracks. They say that once you reach the river, you could make a raft and travel many miles in any direction. * We ask the Kamayurá about the lost city. They say they have ancient legends of an impossibly large village where all the people of the jungle once came from but left and forget. There is debate on why they left -- some say there was a great fight, some say there were too many people, some say a great sickness. * We leave. After several days (as Owen does not return), he's basically written off as not likely to ever return. The Sorensons and Moore lead a memorial service, speaking of his indomitability in the face of the dangers of the jungle. The Sorensons speak up about his abilities as a tracker and will miss having him at their side. Dr. Russel talks about him being a tough, crafty SOB that he'll miss having along. No one else speaks. ** Afterward, there are mutters. People noticed his erratic behavior and propensity for violence above the norm. * Those of us with survival skills notice a few odd techniques of the Kamayurá. They have a few odd cries to attract birds and others for monkeys when hunting. Luo notices after one of them is injured by a cut from a broken branch that they treat the wound with soldier ants, having them pinch the wound shut and twisting the head off to use as sutures. October 9th * We are near a river, which might be one of the seven tributaries of the Xingu river, which was mentioned several times in Fawcett's notes. The Kamayurá seem inclined to swim across this river which about 150 yards across. There is a waterfall to the south and the area just north of it is relatively calm (widening there). ** Maxwell asks Morty (the ichthyologist) about the dangers of the river. He basically says that he doesn't know enough about the area, but the range for piranhas is pretty wide. * Maxwell asks the Sorensons, and they're pretty confident they can handle protecting the group. Thomas looks into making rafts. Unfortunately, we left the rope with the planes to save weight until camp could be struck. * The expedition begins cutting down trees and vines and helping Thomas design rafts. The Kamayurá seem deeply amused by the ongoing shenanigans. None of them are disturbed by fishes when they cross. We also whittle paddles. The transfer of the gear and people is quite wearying and time consuming. ** One of the rafts tumbles over with Luo, Maxwell, and the Sorensons. Swimming across, Luo feels something brush past his foot. It was smooth, solid, and dragged long his foot. Some concern is spent on it, but no one else feels anything. ** Total side note: We have noticed that the bugs have stopped bothering us, but we can rationalize it with the roots. * In crossing the river, we note its increased flow and start to get worried about the rainy season coming early. It normally starts in November. Our guides think it'll take another 2-3 months to reach Fawcett. ** We briefly discuss using the plane to head back and wait out the rainy season. It is a seaplane, so we could potentially use the river. ** We also discuss the horror of pressing on in the rain. Particularly from having soaked skin and wet fabric rubbing our skins all day. * The other fordings go much better as we develop a system. The process gets down to a few hours, most of it being building. The Kamayurá tend to swim across with their spears at hand and are never attacked by river creatures. (Nor are we.) October 16th * Roughly another week passes, and we've gone just over 50 miles. The Kamayurá says that after these few rivers is a long span of open jungle which should go faster. * The Kamayurá go off together to go hunting. That night, all of us have strange dreams. ** Adams dreams of the money and awards he'll make as he develops the images of the journey and goes through memories of all we've been through. Over time, shadows start appearing on the photos and strange lighting defects. The photos all catch flames in development as he flees the room. ** Xiangqi dreams of the brutal and relentless nature of the jungle itself as people fall to maladies that would be trivial to treat elsewhere in the world. His dreams focus on these injuries & diseases and how simple it is to treat them now with the knowledge he possesses. ** Matheson's perspective has changed to see the world through many eyes and ears. He has learned techniques not taught in engineering schools -- those of living creatures that can do things no technology can. ** Russel dreams of a stone door closing behind him and following light through a cave with treasures of complex and ancient, anachronistic design made of stone and bone, but there is no way to carry them home. However, he casts a spell to teleport up through a hole in the ceiling. He kills a mouse again to teleport away. He finds a deer to catch and kill to return to his office to right up his find for the world. * We continue east. The Sorensons go off into the jungle to hunt. They return with plenty of game with them. They have a couple of slaughtered animals (a pig and a capybara) ready for cooking and a number of birds and monkey trussed up for later. We eat well. * Night happens, and when morning comes there's some consternation about the camp. Several prize animals brought back by the Sorensons were killed, and the Sorensons are missing. Six animals were killed (3 monkeys, 2 macaws, and a toucan). ** Luo notices some differences from how the monkey was killed before. Most were beheaded, and one bird had its neck broken. It could have been in prep for butchery, or it could be for several small spells or one large one. It's unlikely the ritual was too significant. * We try to track the Sorensons. There are some tracks we can't identify, including some sort of round depressions heading out of camp, like some sort of large insect or spider (4-10 legs). There are boots following the other tracks. ** Dr. Russel waves over Luo and shows him the tracks. Luo shares all his concerns to Maxwell as Clayton listens. As we follow the tracks, a sinuous snake-like track joins them. (Also, Thomas came with us; Early Masters is still feeling ill.) ** We continue to follow the tracks. After a few hundred yards, the bootprints vanish and then so do the strange circular prints. There are a few broken branches above the area but apparently no tracks we can follow. ** The group continues to follow the snake while Dr. Russel keeps his eyes above. He notices that the branches which are broken are mostly small to middling and close to the trunk itself. (Some confusion happens as Brad thought I was staying behind and not sticking with the party.) ** We continue to follow the snake, and we find a large constrictor that is sleeping off the remnants of a large meal. The lump is about the size of a small to middling size dog. (None of the animals the Sorensons brought back were missing.) There is a sign that the creature caught its prey nearby. * Luo uses aura sight successfully and sees that Russel's aura is darker than it was before. The snake is normal, however. * Luo tells the group about the spread of the auras and his suspicions about the stones, Owen, and the Sorensons. We discuss the implications and ponder why Russel's aura is darkening and why the others have started to become tainted since none of us are wearing medallions. ** The auras of the archaeologists has a more chaotic spread. Moore & Joan have a more extensive taint than us... ** Luo's sharp memory recalls that the last time he was bitten by a bug was the day of the evening that the Kamayurá arrived. * We head back to the tree to see if we can find anything up in it. Matheson climbs up in the tree to take a look. He can see nests but nothing useful. We head back to camp and tell Dr. Moore the bad news. He has bad news of his own. Apparently, they took one of the two radios with him. ** Masters thinks that he'll be in good form in the next couple of days to help out with guard duty. ** Moore says that he's asked the Kamayura to investigate, but none of them have returned. Adams asks if any of the nearby natives may have kidnapped them like when the Nikak went missing, but we don't know enough. ** Thomas tries the radio to contact the missing Sorensons. There's nothing on the default channel and just some stuff on shortwave. He also checks with the base and tells them about the Sorensons missing. He asks then to keep an ear out for them. We also set up a schedule to check in with the base. They tell us that the people we sent back are mostly recovered. Dr. Green is still a little traumatized, and Sikes should get his vision back in a few months. * Meyers, the archaeologist, woke in the middle of the night and saw the two of them walking around, and then the two of them left. He thought they were doing a perimeter search and thought nothing of it and went back to sleep. However, he's not telling the full truth, Adams can tell. He asks if there's something else he'd like to confide in him. He balks and says that he couldn't say. ** He opens up after Adams claims that he can keep a secret -- after all, he can't print all he's seen without looking mad. The man admits that he saw the two strike down the animals and mutter something. He then saw one of them change to something more "primal." * The Kamayurá return, and says that his warriors looked through the jungle and have not been able to find our two missing members. * We settle down for the evening to eat and rest. Maxwell notices Joan coming up to the fire with fresh burnables -- vines, leaves, and green twigs. She starts putting them into the fire slowly while muttering. He tries to talk to her, and she ignores him. He tries shaking her shoulder, and she falls to the ground. He tries to get Anthony and gets Luo to look over her. She seems fine except that her eyes are rolled up into the back of her head. ** Luo knows that fire is often used to sacrifice things. Also, putting in green wood creates a lot of smoke. ** She is stiff initially and then jolts awake after a few minutes and calls for Dr. Russel. She asks to speak privately. She thinks something very wrong is happening with her brother; she's sure he's alive thanks to dreams she's been having of him. The dreams show her things that might have been or might be. We may all be in danger if he is able to complete whatever he is doing. She saw thousands of people, a light in the sky, and devastation -- the earth changing itself. She thinks there was a sense of anticipation and urgency. ** She asks who we can trust, and Russel names the PCs. ** She was legitimately scared and anxious. There was anxiety and confusion related to the parts she was holding back (about what she was doing at the fire). ** Dr. Russel shares her concerns with the PCs. * Dr. Russel thinks back to the journals and how Vinson was corrupted by the pink stone and Letty's descriptions of the sacrificial ritual they interrupted. Not enough info to go on to tell whether that was the Kamayurá. October 19th * Tomorrow we get the inventory. There are some spare batteries missing along with the radios. * We slept well. In fact, we've been sleeping well and feeling strong for a while. It's also odd that Early Masters (who took a severe blow to the head) is in such good condition. He fails his aura check too. * However, during our inventory, Dr. Russel finds the talisman at the bottom of his pack and then starts spreading the word to discretely dispose of them. We make a plan to sneak the medallions out over the course of a few nights during a watch shared by Dr. Russel and Matheson. Category:Session Logs